NIO and XPeng both made Norway their first market outside China. Years later, their paths — and their results — have gone in opposite directions.
NIO: direct sales and battery swap, but slowing growth
NIO entered Norway in 2021, its first market outside China, launching the ES8 that September and opening NIO House Oslo that October. NIO sells fully direct in Norway, with no independent importer — unusual among every brand in the Norwegian market, not just Chinese ones. Norway was also the first market outside China where NIO built out its full battery-swap network: by mid-2025, Norway hosted 20 of NIO's roughly 60 European stations, more than any other country, though expansion has since stalled — no new European stations are planned for 2026, with one more planned for the Oslo West/Bærum area around mid-2026. Registrations fell from a 2022 peak of 1,135 to 535 in 2025, and NIO's cumulative losses in Norway since 2021 have passed NOK 1.03 billion. NIO's Europe head, An Ho, has said the company has "no intention of withdrawing from the market, quite the opposite," while acknowledging "2025 unfortunately did not turn out quite as we wished"; Q4 2025 reportedly turned profitable. In NAF's independent winter test, the ET7 stood out, actually beating its official rated range — one of the best results in that round of testing.
XPeng: from going it alone to partnering, and overtaking
XPeng also made Norway its first market outside China, delivering its first G3 SUVs in late 2020 through a local partner before XBI Norge AS (majority-owned by Motor Gruppen, also Mitsubishi's, Renault's and Dacia's Norwegian importer) took over as importer in 2021. Starting in 2023, XPeng handed delivery and after-sales service to Bilia while keeping the importer role itself; its current volume leader is the G6, with the new X9 recently added. The registered fleet passed 10,000 in 2025, with full-year registrations reaching 4,466 — more than double 2024 — and by September 2026, year-to-date registrations had already reached 4,881, surpassing all of 2025 and placing 7th overall in the Norwegian market. In July 2026 alone, XPeng registered 843 units, good for 3rd place overall that month — the first time any Chinese brand has reached 3rd place in Norway. The G9 won the fast-charging segment outright in NAF's El Prix 2024 winter test, and the G6 performed strongly in the 2025 round.
Two models, two outcomes
NIO kept 100% control — direct sales plus its own battery-swap network — but that also means carrying all the local cost and risk alone, and growth has stalled. XPeng kept the strategic importer role but handed the capital-intensive, operationally complex parts — retail, delivery, service — to an already-established local partner, Bilia. That hybrid appears to have let it scale faster without giving up long-term control. It lines up closely with the recommendation in this site's own guide to choosing a distribution model: enter light, while keeping the option to take channel control back later.
What a new entrant can take from this
NIO proves there's no structural barrier to going fully direct in Norway — but full direct control also concentrates all the cost and risk on the brand itself, which is hard to sustain if growth doesn't keep pace with the investment. XPeng's path suggests that keeping the strategic importer role while handing the capital-intensive retail and service layer to an already-proven local partner may be the faster route to scale without sacrificing long-term control.
Sources: TV2 Broom on NIO's Norwegian finances, XPeng's official 2025 sales release, Motor.no on Norway's July 2026 market ranking.